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Fisi
Fisi is the name of a long-forgotten and scarcely worshipped figure of natural power, always recurring in the form of a spotted hyena. She has been variably described as both a loa by the cultures of Trolls and a lesser ancient by Kaldorei scholars. Her domain is believed to encompass the importance of continuing the natural cycle, thriving where others would see desolation, urging of matriarchal leadership, and becoming involved in fits of social dominance and mischief. Though her name has almost entirely faded from the face of Azeroth, there are still those who have sought out the remnants of her ancient intuition where they have found it alive in the forlorn savannahs of the Southern Barrens. History The First Mischief The origins of Fisi are largely unknown, with the earliest legends hailing from the ruins of ancient trolls being greatly fragmented and difficult to interpret directly. It is clear, however, that she found her first substantial base of followers amidst the tribes that would later become the Gurubashi Empire, with a select number of creation myths made to accompany her presence alongside the other beings Trolls came to recognize as Loa. According to later sources and derivatives of these beliefs found within the bones of more recent nations, the predominant story for Fisi's beginning proclaims that she was at first not any manner of wild god at all. In tales written upon a number of broken tablets recovered from the extent of Zandalar's former power, when the followers of a selfish and greedy-hearted Loa turned to murder their idol, they found themselves swallowed with regret and bereft of what little else they had. The meager crops they'd raised fettered in their growth, prey grew scarce as the land became harsh, and when at last they looked beyond the weight of their deed, they knew that in killing their god, they had doomed themselves to desolation. But with their backs away, a lean-muscled hyena came behind them, and with a mischievous cackle, devoured the Loa's corpse and soul. This, then, was to be known as Fisi's First Mischief, when she stole the mantle of power and thus became Fisi, The Denmother. After seeing her and expressing their disbelief at such a scavenger god, Fisi pointed out the hyenas with her snout, who had remained strong and lively in the wake of the terrible famine of the land. With this proof, the Trolls listened to her words, and she taught them all the ways to survive in a land that had nothing, bestowing upon them the Ten Lessons of Fisi. For this, they followed her graciously and granted her an uneasy place among history in the early mythology surrounding the scattered pantheon of the Loa. There remains, however, sufficient evidence to suggest that this was not a motion entirely approved by the followers of other, stronger deities of the land; with many ancient sources defiled and ruined in later eras. It is without doubt that the reason for her legends' persistence into written record is owed entirely to the spread of her teachings following the first major unification by the Trolls during the Empire of Zul and their war against the Aqir, where many of the outlying cultures held by the Gurubashi were enabled to mesh with those of other, more developed tribes and civilizations. It was in this period that the worship of Fisi reached its height, curtailing in the centuries after the weighted threat had been defeated and each nation returned to its own place upon the world. Fisi's following remained strongest in the southwest corner of Ancient Kalimdor, where the Gurubashi had faced the harrowing forces of the Aqir near Ahn'Qiraj. With time, however, and perhaps no small amount of tension over the matriarchal tenets of the Denmother's system of beliefs, Fisi's name began to fade once more into obscurity. She would be retained by the outskirts of civilization, in places where her guidance was needed, but forgotten by all those for whom greater powers left them content. To keep her faith from ever vanishing in entirety, it is said she bid her followers to commit tremendous pranks upon the followers of other Loa, enough that her heckling laugh could be heard throughout the centuries to follow. The War of the Ancients Even at its zenith, the following of Fisi was emplaced among the least popular banners of worship within the nations of the Trolls, and as years bore on this fact became all the more truthful considering her waning importance in recovered texts from the era just prior to the Sundering. It has been suggested by more contemporary sources that this may have been the reason for what would later be her involvement within the War of the Ancients, and that whatever major support she had before then would likely have been unable to properly survive the disastrous events that were soon to come. Unlike many of the Loa, Fisi took a direct interest as the Well of Eternity swelled with power beyond the range of territory that she had known, inquisitive and curious as to what could meddle with the unseen forces of nature and cause her to notice. She had scarcely interacted with the dark trolls that became the Kaldorei, knowing only that they were sometimes enemies to her followers and that they had grown next to the touch of enchanted, magical waters at the continent's core. It was with no small amount of restraint, then, that she refrained from ill judgment of their kind when the Well began to churn into a nightmarish fervor of power, ushering in the First Invasion of the Burning Legion. This immense threat had been born from the wicked amidst them, but not all were enemies of nature, and for this she leapt eagerly to their cause in the battle to come. There is little knowledge about her exact actions towards the Kaldorei during the war itself, though it is known she was seen near the outpost of Then'Ralore, where she lay ruin to the Legion with fang and claw alongside them. They knew not her name, or whence she had been brought to their aid, but described her fleetingly in appearance and in her deeds, where it was said that the Goddess called upon the wilds to save her children too far from the reach of the resisting armies. It is said that in the final moments of the war, she was tattered thin with the wounds she'd received fighting against the Burning Shadow, and when the Sundering broke upon the world in a flash of hideous light, she was barely able to survive. Those that she had rescued from their fates at the hands of the Legion would speak of her in distantly retold stories that kept memory of her sacrifice somewhat alive, but for most who had been caught in the monumental conflict, her name would never be known for the deeds she had undertaken. She stumbled in a world destroyed, a land reborn, and searched for her former followers, the Trolls of the Gurubashi. The Fallow Feast Though in the wake of the continent splitting into two, much of the former territory she had inhabited in faith was no longer together, or greatly changed. As written in art bestowed within the ruins of Zul'Farrak, when at last she came upon those who could remember her name, they called themselves a part of the Sandfury tribe, and were awash in the suffering of the harsh, post-war landscape of Kalimdor. The climate now was decidedly unforgiving, brutal, and empty of hope for their people to thrive. As Fisi limped into a ring of her followers, they begged her desperately to guide them in the way to survival as she had in centuries past. But Fisi's injuries were too great, the demons' touch had found her form's mortality, and she knew there was little more she could do to prevent the inevitable. Despite this, those of her path already had all they needed to survive, they simply needed to be shown the way and this time she could not do it for them. Thus, by the tenets that she had laid out for her creed, she gathered them round and instructed them to carry on her teachings wherever they could through the generations, to remember the ways of the Denmother, the Scavenger. And in her most poignant final hour, she told them to never let her sacrifice go to waste, and thus slumbered finally there to allow her spirit to pass through to the Emerald Dream. In an event that would be forever recalled by her faithful as The Fallow Feast, her followers gratefully picked apart the dormant corpse of the fallen hyena god; consuming the flesh of her body until nothing remained but bleached-white bones rotting in the heat and dust. With all that she had left behind and the influence she had borne, those who lived by her tenets would indeed survive, flourishing in the wake of desolation and lasting through the terrible famines that drained the world after the Sundering. Those that had witnessed this miraculous event would later ascribe into impervious legend, but beyond the followers that she had reached, her importance had waned. Ultimately, without her direct presence to continue the preservation of her worship, each passing era bore her tales further and further into the distant past, easily forgotten and held by few. Within the next few thousand years, her memory lay almost entirely forgotten by the Sandfury trolls, save for those savage and animalistic followers who remained to listen to her lessons and traveled into the north, where her teachings had come alive within the savannahs where the forests surrounding Then'Ralore once had been. Fisi faded into obscurity alongside them, but her name would always be whispered upon the plains by those descendants of her path that remembered. Current Presence ... The Lessons of Fisi Within the ruins left behind by the Gurubashi Empire and most commonly the holdings of the Sandfury Trolls in Southern Kalimdor, there still exists written record of the beliefs and tenets that guided the Followers of Fisi from their inception, albeit found only in extreme rarity. It is with this generational knowledge that the present-day worship of her form is accomplished and in accordance to these notions that her faithful must live their lives. There are many colloquial teachings regarding the ideals that once guided the Followers of Fisi, though these ten lessons are the most prominently recorded: # Nothing on the savannah is wasted. All that exists in nature is bound to the natural cycle of survival, and for something to be exempted out of preference is to disparage the will of nature. What is provided by the wilderness is a bounty when nothing is guaranteed, and therefore does a rotting corpse become food, puddled mud a reprieve from the sun, dying grass into kindling; a Follower of Fisi must live squalid and humble to ensure that nothing goes to waste. # Respect the rules of dominance. The spirit of competition is the spirit of survival. Thus, there must always be a struggle for domination and a balance between powers of those who rove together. Through challenges and shows of strength, a proper hierarchy may be established and the fit may lead others to survive. If humbled, one must accept defeat and submit until such a time that the opposing leader may be challenged again. Dominance is never won forever. # The many must become one. The clan and family is fundamental to the survival of all within the wilds of nature, and it is only together that one may thrive in nature’s company. One must share between members of the clan and seek to benefit the whole as well as the individual self. Alone against the wilderness one may be easily set upon, but together all are made strong. # There is no shame in stealing what is needed. That which may be easily taken for the benefit of oneself and their clan is by rights the property of those whom would take it, provided it is needed and taking it would not disrupt the flow of nature. However, gratuitously taking more than can be used is an act of greed if what is taken is not ever put into proper use. If it may be rightly used, it may be stolen. # Mark out what is owned. In accordance with the prior lesson, what is treasured as personal must be protected and made clear to others or they will inevitably take it. Thus, it is necessary to be possessive of that which one does not wish to lose. It falls to the individual to defend what they own, failing this, it is not their right to have it. # There is power in presence. All that may be done to intensify one’s presence should be done if one is to strive towards natural strength. Bearing the most powerful and striking scent means that others will be beholden to accept one’s dominance by virtue of their senses. A distinctive odor also marks out identity and belonging, both of which are highly important in the chaos of the wilds. # Mischief is to be welcomed. It is encouraged that one should become social through the spread of mischief as a means of attaining dominance and communal bonding. Testing boundaries and overstepping them where it is safe to do so may bring knowledge and insight to grant an advantage over others. Indulge curiosity where it is unwanted, but not where it is rightly forbidden. # The Matron takes her place. The male breed is roving and untrustworthy, but a matron’s burden will guide others true. Those following in the path of Fisi understand that it is the female’s place to lead, and that her authority will always outmatch that of any male’s. She may take what she wishes of him without limit, for her place is greater. # Seek not to improve nature, but to nurture its destined path. Those who believe that nature may be crafted into a more perfect form are to be frowned upon by the Followers of Fisi. One must always seek to serve nature and not themselves, aiding it in the manner it deems fit for them and living alongside it in harmony. A focus must be placed upon natural solutions that may be encouraged rather than what is forced upon the course of nature. # The Followers of Fisi bear no exceptions. All the lessons of Fisi bear their importance to the land, and as they have aided the hyena throughout the evolution of the Barrens, so too will they guide her followers. Bearing with the life they lead, the Followers of Fisi are expected to uphold her lessons as they can. When their time has come, they must grant their body to the land, scavengers, and serve as carrion in final duty to their cause. The Followers of Fisi The aptly named Followers of Fisi include all those who ascribe themselves to her ancient tenets of living, and who yet bestow honor upon the faded name of the hyena demigod. The vast majority of her present-day worshippers include Trolls, though there have occasionally been Kaldorei to recognize the worth of her teachings when inhabiting the more hazardous environs of Kalimdor. Without her direct presence known in the world, such groups are marginal at best and unlikely to grow to any noticeable extent, the widespread recognition of her faith being almost unheard of even among knowledgeable circles. Still, her indirect effect still permeates throughout the south of the old continent, and praying to her cause has been known to grant the boons of the Denmother when she is pleased with her followers. The most common religious rituals involve offerings of carrion, animal trophies from difficult hunts, and acts of mischief in Fisi's name. There are scant references to cannibalism amid the older cultures of the Trolls, though whether this is to be related specifically to her own sphere or simply the incorporation of racial customs into her teachings is difficult to discern. Hyenas, being the avatar of her essence, are to be considered sacred and specific care is often taken to ensure that their population remains in safety from the intervention of forces beyond nature's reach. Primalist Worship The primary form of follower under Fisi's teachings, these barbaric savages consist almost entirely of Trolls, most of which are unaligned with anything but the wilderness itself. Through their devotion, they are capable of taking on the environment with endurance and walking alongside the wilds without fear. Druids of the Cackle ... Trivia * The concept behind Fisi was inspired by a friend who urged me to look at the incredible behaviors, physiology, and unique qualities borne by wild hyenas. Seriously, go and look them up, they're amazing. Category:Animals